This guide will show you exactly how to speed up your slow Wordpress website.
And as a result,
- Improve your overall SEO ranking
- Increase your sites user experience rating
- Skyrocket the conversion potential on site.
Below we'll cover:
The Best Tool To Check Your Website Speed:
And 3 Free Plugins To Quickly Fix The Most Common Issues:
So if you want to 10X your websites performance, this guide is for you.
Let’s get started.
Speed = Revenue.
A recent study completed in 2017 by Google found that more than half of total web traffic now view your website on a mobile device.
The problem?
The same study also revealed that the average time to fully load a mobile landing page was a whopping 22 seconds!
And with the average user shown to quickly leave any pages that take more than 3 seconds to load... it becomes quite apparent why this might become an issue for businesses looking to generate leads and sales using their website.
Just take a look at this quick graph displaying the average bounce rates based on website loading speed.
The bottom line? Faster is better and less is more.
But That's Not All...
Because of the role page speed plays in overall user experience, Google recently rolled out a new page speed update to their algorithm in July 2018.
Making speed a critical factor for anyone who runs a website.
So not only will having a slow website mean you'll miss out on a lot of potential visits to your website...
But it will also mean you'll rapidly drop in overall page rankings due to poor user experience.
But luckily, improving your websites overall speed is a relatively easy problem to solve...
All you need is a tool that will show you exactly why your website is underperforming and where you can be improving things to help quickly speed it up.
And just below is the best tool available to help you.
Google PageSpeed Insights
Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI) provides detailed reports on the performance of your website on both desktop and mobile devices.
To use it, simple click HERE, enter your URL and click the 'analyze' button.
The finished report will detail everything you need to know about what might be hindering your websites performance.
Here’s what our report looks like:
We scored an 86 out a possible 100, certainly not bad!
Once you receive your result, simply scroll down the page to view the individual errors which are causing your loading speed to suffer.
Now, if your website was anything like ours was, you should see a string of errors in this area advising you to look at image optimisation, caching, minimising HTML etc.
And don't worry if you don't understand some *(or a lot!) of the errors, as the 3 plugins I will advise you to download below should by default, fix a large percentage of the issues for you...
3 Free Plugins To Increase Your Website Speed
Now it's time to take a look the 3 free, easy to use plugins that can assist in getting your site performing at it's best. ( no coding required! )
1. WP Smush
Using images within your content posts should be standard practise for any website owner wanting to keep their readers interested and engaged upon landing on their blog.
But..
Uploading hoards of unoptimised images can eventually take up a mountain of storage space.
Subsequently ensuring your website runs WAY below optimum speed due to the large amount of oversized images having to load each time someone visits your website!
But...
That’s Where 'Compression' Can Help…
Compressing images will save you a literal TONNE of storage space without affecting the overall quality of your images.
WP Smush automatically compresses all your website files currently on site with the click of a button.
As well as allowing the option to compress new files being added as you’re uploading them!
The result will shave even more time off of your sites overall loading speed.
Meaning.
- More eyes on your content
- Increased user experience
- Better on site conversions
- More potential revenue!
Click Here To Get The WP Smush Plugin Now! ( Don't worry, it opens in a new tab! )
Next on the list?
Browser Caching
Browser caching is a fantastic tool that can easily make a BIG impact on your websites overall loading speed.
Now I hear you asking already...
What is 'browser caching'?
Caching - store away in hiding or for future use.
To put it simply...
Each time someone visits your URL, your website must fetch the resources necessary to load.
This, requires a LOT of effort. As the site must load individual images, page elements, HTML and more each time someone visits your website.
With caching, the browser will 'save' a cached version of your website.
Resulting in a HUGE increase in speed when people land on your site!
So, how do you implement it? Luckily for you, there's a plugin that can sort it all for you! ( with ZERO code necessary! )
2. WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache is a free plugin that will help you achieve higher results on Google’s PageSpeed tools.
On top of that, it will also help minify HTML and CSS, enable 'GZIP' compression and more.
Just copy the options selected in the screenshot below for the best results!
So, try the WP Fastest Cache plugin today to give your website a turbo worthy speed boost!
Click Here To Get WP Fastest Cache Plugin Now! ( Don't worry! It opens in a new tab! )
3. AMP for WP
'Accelerated Mobile Landing Pages', or 'AMP's' for short, is a project that was first announced by Google back in 2015 as a means to display mobile pages faster.
Now at this stage, we know for certain that a fast page equals less bounce rate and higher on site conversions.
And with an average loading speed of just under one second...
AMP's aim to help you achieve just that.
The best plugin we've found for this, is 'AMP for WP'. This plugin will automatically add Accelerated Mobile Pages functionality to your WordPress site, meaning your site performs as it should when someone visits your URL.
Click Here To Get AMP for WP Plugin Now! ( Don't worry! It opens in a new tab! )
So there you have it!
3 completely free Wordpress plugins you can install on your website today to give your website a significant performance boost!
Anything on this list you haven't tried using before?
Or is there anything you think we missed?
Leave us a comment below to let us know!